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News About Tech, Money and InnovationSun, 02 Aug 2015 19:00:51 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3Copyright 2015, VentureBeatNew dating app Hitch lets you play matchmakerhttp://venturebeat.com/2014/06/27/new-dating-app-hitch-lets-you-play-matchmaker/
http://venturebeat.com/2014/06/27/new-dating-app-hitch-lets-you-play-matchmaker/#commentsFri, 27 Jun 2014 18:17:19 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1498732Hitch promises to do something different for the online dating world. It lets you set up two friends who you think might be a good match.
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The dating scene is changing rapidly. Gone are the days of organic meetings in bars (just kidding, hopefully); they have been replaced by fancy Tinder algorithms and OKCupid. The most convenient way to find a dating partner now involves a bunch of user profiles that you can browse like a clothing rack in order to find the possible love of your life — or love of the night.

Hitch promises to do something different for the online dating world. It’s a new dating app that lets you select two friends you’d like to set up — or “hitch” — and the two can start chatting. It’s as simple as that.

“There are many dating apps out there at the moment,” founder Anton Gu told VentureBeat. “The vast majority are providing random suggestions, refined by mutual interests, hobbies, sports, and so on. Some services use location data and tell you, here are the people in your area, see what happens. In reality, it is just a computer algorithm that provides potential matches.”

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“People are happy to receive suggestions of what movies to watch, what albums to buy, but should it be the same for relationships? Especially when you are looking for someone special?”

Gu and his team wondered what it would be like to replace this algorithm with a real person.

To use the app, you log in with your Facebook account and choose two friends to match together. Those two lucky lovers are then sent an invitation to chat, and the matchmaking is complete.

However, the app has a twist. If your friend “hitches” you with somebody, you’ll only know the gender and the age of the person you’re chatting to. So, for example, you’ll know that you’re chatting with a male who is 24 years old, but you won’t have any other details. If, after a while, you realize you like this person, there’s an option to reveal your identity.

Since you won’t know who your potential match is or what he or she looks like, you’ll have to trust your friend’s judgment.

“The users always know that they are being set up with a ‘friend of a friend.’ This gives them a sense of security and familiarity — it will never be some random person you have no connection with, it is always someone in your social circle. And, yes, you have to trust your friend to choose wisely!” Gu tells VentureBeat.

Your matchmaker gets a reward for a successful match. When matchmakers make a hitch, they can see how many messages have been exchanged back and forth between their two lovebirds. If there are lots of messages, matchmakers know they did a good job. A matchmaker can even see when the pair reveals their identities to each other, which is the ultimate reward. Matchmakers instantly see the results of their efforts.

“You just know the question is coming: ‘So, 512 messages, huh? When are you taking her (or him!) on a date already?'” Gu tells us. “And the story continues.”

Gu drew much of his inspiration for this app from real life.

“Inspiration for Hitch really came from personal experience. You meet someone at a party (an interesting friend of a friend), you like them, but before you know it, they disappear. And you never see them again. You could ask your friend for their number and call out of the blue: ‘Hey, I’m that guy at the party, Steve gave me your number,’ and so on. But what if they get annoyed at your friend for giving the number away? There’s got to be a better way.”

At the same time, Gu said, sometimes it’s just fun to set people up.

“Hitch is not an app that offers countless potential matches — it depends on your friends’ choices. Quality over quantity. A friend’s advice over randomness.”

You can download the app for iPhone here. The Android version will be available soon.

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What an eclectic mix of startups that secured funding today! Some chose to disclose their round to the press, while others remained quiet. We were most intrigued by Databricks, a “stealthy” startup that raised $14 million today from Andreessen Horowitz but that did not announce its funding to the public. The big data company has some serious technology heavyweights on its founding team and board.

New York startups also performed well today, with Urban Compass, BioDigital, and BetterCloud raising plenty of cash.

Check out our full list of the startups that gained funding today. As per usual, we gleaned our information from scouring SEC filings and press releases on the web.

Can’t find a decent apartment in NYC? Urban Compass raises $20M to help

New York City startup Urban Compass aimed to change that when it launched four months ago, and today the company is announcing that it has raised $20 million in a first round of funding from Advance Publications, Founders Fund, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, and others. Read the full story on VentureBeat.

Databricks raises $14M from Andreessen Horowitz, according to an SEC filing

According to a Form D filing, a company called Databricks raised $14 million in funding. The company’s website doesn’t contain much information. But it does say that the team of computer scientists from Berkeley and MIT are building “next-generation software for analyzing and extracting value from data.” The team claim to be the creators of Apache Shark, an open-source project. Ben Horowitz (of VC firm Andreessen Horowitz) sits on the company’s board. Read the full story on VentureBeat.

SafeShot raises $6M, according to an SEC filing

In another Form D filing, a startup called SafeShot has raised $6 million in funding. The Menlo Park-based medical company is still in stealth mode — but we hear that it’s a pre-filled syringe business. The founders plan to relocate the business to the Reprise Technologies medical device incubator in the coming months.

BetterCloud raises $6M to bring its software to Salesforce & Zendesk

New York-based BetterCloud announced today it has raised $6 million in a Series B round led by Flybridge Capital Partners with participation from Greycroft Partners, BLH Venture Partners, TriBeCa Venture Partners, Bear Creek Capital, and Hallett Capital.With the funding, the company plans to expedite the development of its FlashPanel software for managing Google Apps, which includes software for file sharing, e-mail, and other business needs. By the end of the year, the company aims to adapt its product for use with Salesforce.com and Zendesk.

Gyft raises $5M to digitize the $29B gift card market

Gyft has raised $5 million in its first round of funding to put gift cards on your mobile device, so at least you don’t have to carry them around. This round includes backing from A-Grade Investments, Social + Capital Partnership, Karlin Ventures, and others. Read the full story on VentureBeat.

HowAboutWe raises $4.2M to help you fall and stay in love

HowAboutWe is trying to change the experience of online dating to make it more appealing to the current generation of daters. This “modern love company” seeks to connect people offline over shared interests and activities. An SEC filing reveals that HowAboutWe’s parent company, ThisLife Inc., has closed $4.2 million of a $5 million round. Read the full story on VentureBeat.

If you need a dozen options for a date tonight — and live in cities like New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles — a new app called Let’s Date is launching today. Forget the extended courtship period — this app cuts to the chase, no back-and-forth messages or planning required.

It claims to be the first mobile-only dating product, although OkCupid just launched a free smartphone app for blind dates (I would know — for our in-depth review, I actually went on one of these dates.)

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In an interview with VentureBeat, Let’s Date founder Sean Suhl said they designed the app to replicate those jittery feelings of catching a stranger’s eye in a bar. “You go to a bar or show or party … you strike up a conversation and maybe set up a date. This was the experience we wanted people to have on their phone.”

Let’s Date spun out of Science Inc. a Los Angeles-based technology studio that creates and acquires applications. Its founding team previously developed SuicideGirls, the popular community for fans of “alternative beauty.” SuicideGirls is still going strong under new management; the founders told TechCrunch that their years of experience building an online community will come in handy.

Above: Connect with Facebook to create a “dating card” on the app.

Suhl designed the app to appeal to urban and professional women, so I decided to give it a whirl.

Download the app for free and log in with Facebook Connect (it didn’t show up in my news feed — phew), and it prompts you to answer a series of questions to help the app find you a match. Whoever created the survey likely has a dodgy dating history — on the topic of “drug use,” I’m asked whether I’m a “drug free,” “down the hatch,” “up the nose” or “in the veins” girl. For booze, those who enjoy a 2 p.m. tipple can select “Don Draper train wreck.”

Once you’ve filled out the necessary steps, the app automatically creates a dating card. You then may browse singles’ dating cards or sit idly by until you request a Let’s Date request, which you can accept or decline with a simple “no thanks.”

The company claims it set up 25,000 people on dates in January alone.

Let’s Date also uses a recommendations engine to improve its date suggestions and find a venue for you to meet. In testing, the user experience team discovered that female daters were more likely to tap “Let’s Date” on a match if they were presented a couple less optimal options first.

So don’t be surprised if your first few suggested dates are total duds. The algorithm meant to do that.

The app is a step ahead of OkCupid’s Crazy Blind Date — I would feel more comfortable going on a date with a stranger if I could peruse their interests and profile pics.

However, it shares many of the same flaws — tech nerds tend to be early adopters of new dating apps. It’s not ideal if you’re looking to meet people in other industries. Case in point: My first match’s status? “A lot of people seemed surprised that someone interested in computers would also be interested in painting.”

Single readers, would you give Let’s Date a shot? If you’ve already taken the plunge, I’d love to hear from you!

VentureBeat teamed up with ABC7 News reporter Jonathan Bloom for this project: I would go on an actual blind date, and the San Francisco network affiliate of ABC would interview my date on the spot.

See below for the video.

Setting up the app and the service is easy: Just download the free app on your iPhone or Android and connect to OkCupid if you’re already a member (or create a new account if you’re not). You’ll only need to reveal a few basic details: first name, age, whether you’re into men or women, and a profile pic, which the app will subsequently scramble (see left).

A word of warning: San Francisco is one of those cities where everyone knows everyone in their sector, particularly in the tech community, and the image scrambling is pretty easy to see through, so I was able to discern a few familiar faces when browsing the app.

Next, the app prompts you to create a date (“8 p.m. at Peet’s Coffee”). And then watch the offers fly in. Alternatively, you can browse a dozen or so existing dates and pick the one that’s most convenient. You’ll need to wait for confirmation from your potential date. Typically, this takes a few hours — if they respond at all.

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My first impression? I was a bit underwhelmed by the sheer number of dudes whose ideal first date involves Dunkin’ Donuts or Peet’s Coffee. Step it up, people! Please!

After a few tries (my first blind date candidate never got back to me, and the second couldn’t meet up before 8 p.m.), I locked down a date with Bobby, a twenty-something with brown hair. His choice for the blind date impressed me: a taqueria in San Francisco’s Mission District known for its margaritas.

You can’t contact your prospective date until an hour beforehand, when the app lets you message back and forth. I received a note from Bobby confirming that he was actually planning to show up and informing me he’d be wearing a blue sweater.

Feeling duplicitous — ABC7 News was already on its way to televise the date — I ventured over to the restaurant. On route, I even considered writing down conversation topics on the back of my hand in case we had nothing in common. Bobby and I had arranged to meet at the bar. He gave me a quick hug, and I promptly informed him about the news crew waiting outside.

Bobby — aka Robert Leshner, the cofounder of Internet privacy company Safe Shepherd — took it like a pro. He’s startup guy, and is wise to the ways of the tech press. As it turned out, he had a bit of a heads-up about who I was. A few hours prior to our “date”, a mutual friend recognized me from my scrambled photo. Bobby had a feeling I’d be writing a story.

Three margaritas later, I was thoroughly enjoying myself, and I learned all about Bobby’s startup. Still, I’m unlikely to use the app again.

OkCupid may address some of my initial concerns over time. A few bugs prevented me from booking a last minute date — the app would tell me that “I’m already busy” on a particular night. I had to delete and reinstall it several times. And then there’s the chance someone might recognize you despite your scrambled photo. This is especially true for one of San Francisco’s thriving business sectors — the app’s “early adopters” are primarily tech folks. Not ideal if you’re in the startup world and want to expand your horizons.

Above: I met my blind date at a taqueria in the Mission.

Yagan is convinced the app will take off in time. To celebrate the launch, OkCupid went dark for a day, turning all of its profile photos black, so users would “have to make their dating decisions based on words and wits rather than abs and, well, other body parts,” the company said in a statement. In an interview with ABC7 (see below), Yagan claimed the app has already been used “hundreds of times.”

It’s a nice idea in theory, but when OkCupid introduced a similar blind dating service in 2007, it was a complete bomb. People weren’t all that comfortable meeting a complete stranger from the Internet with only a name, age, and scrambled photograph to go on.

I’m not surprised it failed. There is something both terrifying and awkward about going on a date with a mysterious stranger. Blind dates only seem to work out when it’s a set-up and you have a friend or two in common. Thankfully, Bobby and I had some common ground and could talk about tech, so we’ll end up as friends.

Free tonight and feeling courageous enough for a blind date? Launching today, an app called “Crazy Blind Date” matches you with a mysterious stranger.

Before agreeing to meet, all you’ll see is a shattered profile picture, age, first name, and a suggested venue. It’s a means to avoid that awkward back-and-forth chat that goes on between potential matches on sites like Match.com.

The free app for Android and iPhone is the brainchild of OkCupid, an online dating site that is popular with young people (and especially professionals). To celebrate the blind dating app’s release, the team removed all of the photos from its website so that members logging into OkCupid “will have to make their dating decisions based on words and wits rather than abs and, well, other body parts,” the company said in a statement.

This isn’t new ground for OKCupid; it attempted to launch a blind dating service in 2007, but it was a complete bomb. Members weren’t comfortable meeting a complete stranger from the Internet without being able to peruse their profile first.

But the matchmaking service is giving it another shot; CEO Sam Yagan told the New York Times that this might be a remedy for users who are too bogged down by all the profiles they see on OKCupid.

Does Yagan have a point? Are we dead-set on rippling abs, a flashy car, and a six-figure salary? Would a blind date help us avoid those sleazeball charmers? The idea of meeting a complete stranger from the Internet, let alone a smartphone app, fills me with fear, but there’s not much I won’t do for the sake of a story.

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It was easy to get started. If you’re an OkCupid user, the app will import your existing information, and use it to find your perfect match. I signed up for a new account, snapped an image, and inputted some basic biographical information. Within a few hours, I received an offer to meet a nice-enough-looking man in his 30s called Stephen (I could detect brown hair and glasses from his scrambled profile pic) at a local restaurant.

You can also browse suggested dates — I was astonished by the sheer number of Bay Area males that consider Peet’s Coffee to be their dream date venue. Let’s step up the originality and romance people, please.

So, single readers, would you give Crazy Blind Date a shot? Or would you prefer to see a full profile before agreeing to meet in person?

]]>1New OKCupid app matches users based on ‘words and wits,’ not body partsOnline daters, be warned! 1 in 10 profiles are scams, report revealshttp://venturebeat.com/2012/10/30/online-dating-scam/
http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/30/online-dating-scam/#commentsTue, 30 Oct 2012 17:18:23 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=565935Dabble in online dating? It turns out that the crippling fear of an awkward first date is the least of your troubles. A fraud is sweeping online dating sites, according to a special report in this month's issue of Glamour Magazine.
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Dabble in online dating? It turns out that the crippling fear of an awkward first date is the least of your troubles. A fraud is sweeping online dating sites, according to a special report in this month’s issue of Glamour Magazine.

The scam typically works like this: A con artist, usually based in an Internet cafe overseas, will lift a photo from Facebook or another social networking site. They will painstakingly craft a fake profile and begin targeting people that are looking for love.

Once they’ve made contact, they will typically request to move the conversation to a private instant messaging service. He or she will begin the courtship process by sending letters and love poems for a period of weeks and finally offer to fly to meet their victim. Within hours of the expected arrival time, an emergency will strike: A work visa has expired, or their aunt/niece/child is sick and they need a few thousand dollars to be wired over so they can finally meet their intended.

In many cases, scammers will choose to use pictures of military personnel. After discovering that his headshot consistently showed in hoax dating profiles (thanks to a Google alert), Army Master Sgt. C.J. Grisham set up a personal blog for soldiers to report their photo being used on online dating sites.

“Over the past few years, I’ve seen these scammers use all kinds of photos removed from open Facebook pages, blogs, official military websites, and command pages,” he wrote in a blog post last month. “I’ve also seen my own photos and name used.” (The image of Grisham that was used by scammers is pictured, left)

With a few of the largest player like OKCupid, Match, and others, there are precautionary measures in place. However, on smaller or niche dating sites like christiandatingforfree.com and datanta, there is no security system to spot a fraudster.

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[Update: the site christiandatingforfree.com contacted us to notify us of the precautions they have in place, including a human editor who responds to complaints and reports, and ThreatMetrix, a cybercrime prevention software.]

“On some dating sites, as many as one out of 10 profiles is a scammer,,” Mark Brooks, editor of Online Personals Watch told Glamour.

The lesson here is that online dating startups will need to step up their game to keep consumers safe. “In the war against online dating scams and security threats, we’ve chosen to do whatever is necessary to always be a few steps ahead of scammers, and not the other way around – which is usually too late for our users,” said Cupid.com’s CEO, Bill Dobbie.

“This decision has its high price tag, but the alternative can be much costlier,” he continued. For this reason, Cupid.com, the online dating network behind Flirt.com and BlackMatch.com, announced a partnership this month with RecSys Ltd, an anti-scammer technology. The goal is to catch them 35 percent faster.

With the new system, any individual identified as a scammer is added to the master database, which other online dating companies can access. To identify rogue behavior, the algorithm factors in the user’s login location, IP address, profile photo, and behavior patterns. Additionally, the system can detect “bots,” often operated by organized crime gangs, which create profiles and engage real members in automated scripted conversations designed to elicit payment.

Already, through its quality assurance methods, the site has identified 20,000 scammers who get permanently blocked from Cupid’s communities each month.

Military pictures should turn on your scam radar warning. Some of the biggest scams occur from supposed soldiers in the armed services with a believable sob story and a desperate need to settle down.

Try and keep the conversation going on the dating site messaging system rather than being dragged off to Skype or MSN, at least initially.

Employ some basic conversational tests: If the person claims to be local, engage in a local-knowledge conversation (e.g. the weather, some nearby event, sports team, TV, or festival) and watch for mistakes. If the person is not claiming to be local, consider why he or she would want a long-distance relationship. Is there good reason, such as some particularly unusual common ground? If not, why aren’t they restricting themselves to people a bit nearer to their current location?

Look out for words like “dear” and old-fashioned romantic language, as well as badly formed sentences.

Always be on the lookout for get-rich-quick schemes. If it sounds too good to be true, then it’s probably a scam.

Word of caution: The FBI recently issued a warning about a different kind of online dating scam known as “ransomware.” It’s a virus that will make your computer inoperable until you hand over a payment. Read more about the ransom scam here.

Have you ever been a victim of an online dating scam? To protect consumers, sites like romancescam.com are being set up for volunteers to post details of the counterfeit dating profiles they come across. Christine Davis, a design student who was duped by a fake profile, set up this particular site and wants to support others who have been targeted. Davis calls it the “Nigerian advance fee scam,” as it is thought that the majority of spammers are based in Western Africa.

]]>0Online daters, be warned! 1 in 10 profiles are scams, report revealsA private social network, just for you and your sweetiehttp://venturebeat.com/2012/03/10/a-private-social-network-just-for-you-and-your-sweetie/
http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/10/a-private-social-network-just-for-you-and-your-sweetie/#commentsSat, 10 Mar 2012 23:19:23 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=401660The Korean entrepreneurs behind Between have a charming idea: Let couples create one-on-one social networks for purely private sharing. With the app, from South Korea-based VCNC, two people can connect with each another to share private photos and secret messages. The private “chat” function includes support for emoticons, so you can dress up your sweet […]
]]>The Korean entrepreneurs behind Between have a charming idea: Let couples create one-on-one social networks for purely private sharing.

With the app, from South Korea-based VCNC, two people can connect with each another to share private photos and secret messages. The private “chat” function includes support for emoticons, so you can dress up your sweet nothings with as many smiley faces, winks, and hearts as your sweetie can stand. In the future, the network could support coupons or other offers, enabling marketers to reach the desireable demographic of young, happy couples in search of romantic experiences and adventures.

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Between launched on March 7 at the Launch conference in San Francisco. Park and “value innovator” Edward lee visited VentureBeat’s offices to demonstrate the app, which runs on both iPhone and Android phones — and to show off a picture of Israeli president Shimon Peres checking out a demo at the conference (below).

Perhaps the nicest feature of Between is the ability to view previous communications and photos in an album view called the Memory Box (much like Facebook’s Timeline). With the passing months, this will gradually become an annotated photo album documenting your relationship. I can’t think of an easier way to create a romantic history of a relationship, and it’s considerably less narcissistic than gazing at your own personal Timeline. Of course, for some people, it might turn into a rather racy documentary — but that depends on how you and your S.O. use it and what kinds of pictures you like to send each other.

The app is free to download and use. The company plans to add for-fee services soon that will enable it to generate revenue, starting with printed photobooks. Later, the company may offer other premium services, such as high-resolution image backups, the ability to upload video, and more.

Additionally, Between is looking for partnerships with companies that want to offer special deals to the couple in its network. For instance, a travel company might want to offer a weekend getaway, or a restaurant might offer a 20 percent off coupon for a romantic dinner. Those offers will appear in the app in the future.

Between sounds like a strange sort of social networking service, but actually cuts straight to the heart of what we use network technology for: To connect with one another. Even Mark Zuckerberg recognized this, in his letter to shareholders published in Facebook’s recent document filing for its initial public offering: The biggest social network starts with something very small, the relationship between two people. Between merely takes that thought to an arena where it really matters, your love life.

“Our company vision is to enrich real and offline relationships through emotional communications services,” said Lee.

Plus, as anyone who has ever used social networks will know, it’s all to easy to @ message someone instead of sending a direct message, or accidentally upload a private photo to a public photo album. If you have a social network that’s restricted to just you and your loved one, there’s no risk of those sweet nothings slipping into the public sphere and causing great embarrassment.

Between launched an open beta on November 22, 2011. Since then, the company has updated the app no less than 11 times, and has gathered more than 350,000 users, 54 percent of which use the app weekly. The founders brag that they’ve spent nothing on marketing, and admit that the app has no network effects (since each pair of users is isolated from the rest of the network). The growth has been entirely word of mouth.

Most of the app’s users (78 percent) are in South Korea, but 9 percent are in Japan, 6 percent in China, and 4 percent in the U.S. The company is looking to open a U.S. office soon, in order to expand its presence here and forge locally-relevant marketing relationships.

Of course, I had to ask if it was possible to create Between “networks” with more than one partner. For instance, suppose you’re on a dating site, and still shopping around. Sure, the founders told me: All you need to do is register with a different e-mail address for each partner.

As for polyamorous people or polygamists, I think they’re out of luck. Between is strictly one-on-one for now.

Between is based in Seoul, South Korea. It has raised $1 million in seed funding from Softbank Korea, and employs 15 people. You can download the Between iOS app and the Between Android app for free.

Above: Shimon Peres checks out a demo of Between at LAUNCH, in San Francisco, March 8, 2012. Plus: cupcakes! Photo courtesy VCNC.